First Days on Andros

“You’ll need to hurry. The plane is full and leaving early.” Not the usual flight time adjustment you hear from the check in guy. And so ensued a mad dash for the gate. Burette in one hand, laptop in the other, walking boots flailing from side of my backpack we sweated our way across the Nassau Lynden Pindling International Airport. Piling into security we jammed the one x-ray machine with all our kit and jostled with a Bahamian family also caught out by the unexpected eagerness of the pilot. In the end it didn’t matter and I found I had brought my pen knife and a litre of water onto the plane with me.

A tube with wings would be an accurate description. Seats smaller than the most budget University coach, you could touch both walls. 15 passengers and 2 pilots, we could see right into the cockpit. An odd mix of people, mostly black Bahamian, 4 Americans on holiday diving and fishing and us all crammed in together. It was remarkably friendly with everyone chatting away and introducing themselves. It was at this point I noticed one of our boxes of equipment wasn’t being loaded.

I have never seen such a response from KT about anything else. It was as if her own child was being left behind.

“We need that box! Don’t let him take off!!”

“What’s the problem ma’am?” Came the relaxed response from the pilot 5 seats in front

“I need that box. It’s very important. I need that box” shouted KT, attempting to stand.

“Yes ma’am, soon.” said the pilot as he closed the cock pit door and we taxied out onto the runway.

And that’s how our flight to Andros started. Rushed, sweaty and throwing up unexpected problems. It seemed rather prophetic, we shall have to see how accurate.

 The flight was a short half hour and very smooth with entrancing views of the Bahamian jewel like islands splayed out below us and Didi asleep within 5 minutes. The landing was a bit on the bumpy side, the arrivals section of Andros Town Airport was also the only room of the airport. We then learnt the meaning of a Bahamian ‘soon’. Whilst the next flight that the box would be brought over on was fortunately that afternoon rather than the next morning, the scheduled time was as fluid as the Bahamian accent. Every check with the desk resulted in a ‘Soon Sir’ and a time that seemed to have been picked out of the air. Our rented truck arrived though and, 3 hours after first predicted, the flight with our box on arrived.

So once again reunited with our equipment, we started our hour drive north to Nicholls Town with KT at the wheel. Tropical rain, potholes some un-nerving driving from the locals and we arrived.  After checking around for any open shops we headed to the nearest bar for some food, here the whole journey became worthwhile. A wooden pavilion on the beach front, 4 bottles of Kalik, 4 servings of landlady Smitty’s fresh Conch Fritters and all was forgotten. We could relax and look around us. White beach in the moonlight, the Caribbean Sea lapping gently on the sand, smiling friendly locals and a warm breeze. We had got to Andros.

 

 Nicholls Town Beach 

Over the next few days we were shown around the main field area by KT. This consisted mainly of old water well fields spread throughout old and overgrown Pine Plantations. We set up kit, sweated, got used to the car, got sun burnt, sweated, learnt to navigate the old logging roads and sweated. In conjunction with these introductions to our field work we also set about turning our lovely villa into a Lab. Lamp shades and sofas rapidly gave way to titration and filtration tables. Science fast became the inhabitant of our villa and us the lodgers.

                KT quickly became re-established with all her friends from past trips and we met many new people. The news of the island was ‘Crab Fest’ coming up. This was taking place down in Fresh Creek, central Andros. KT mainly wanted to go in order to see if rumours of a traffic jam on Andros were true! We were more interested in the promise of music and food.

                When we got there it was amazing! There’s only 8,000 people on Andros, which is by far the largest and most sparsely populated island in the Bahamas and they had all turned out for this barmy festival. Trucks and bikes everywhere, rum and beer in liberal amount, steel drums, reggae, fire dancing and crab served in every way you could imagine. Not wanting to embarrass the UK we headed straight for the centre of the crowd and cracked out our finest dance moves. Andros had never seen the chicken dance performed better.